Gigglebit: 50 years of visionary sci-fi computer interfaces on screen

Detail from '2001: A Space Odyssey' film poster via Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Gigglebit is Siliconrepublic’s daily dose of the funny and fantastic in science and tech, to help start your day on a lighter note.

A vivid 4K digital restoration marked the closing gala of the 2014 Cork Film Festival earlier this month and, this week, as part of its Stanley Kubrick film season, the Light House Cinema in Dublin will begin daily screenings of 2001: A Space Odyssey – for many, the ultimate sci-fi film.

The Light House will also be screening Blade Runner later in December, as regular throwbacks to the cult sci-fi hit almost always guarantees an audience. Meanwhile, Interstellar continues to be a big draw at box offices around the world, attracting as much critique for its hard science as its filmmaking prowess, and fans of the Jurassic Park franchise grow hungry in anticipation of feasting on the full Jurassic World trailer on Thanksgiving.

The point being: our appetite for sci-fi on film and television shows no signs of waning, and with so many forward-thinking classics, this genre maintains its relevance even decades after a film’s release.

This infographic from Glow New Media creates a 50-year timeline of futuristic tech and the science-fiction predictions that have become technological reality (as well as some that overshot humankind’s achievements to date).

In the case of innovation – sometimes, at least – form follows fiction.